Sunday, December 13, 2009

Amazing Talent

Now that we are through with the first round of auditions for Dueling Divas, we have had some time to digest the whole process. We are in love. We are in love with good singing. We are in love with the art form. And we are excited about showcasing the professionals we have lined up so far.

We had some truly high caliber performers come through our auditions. We knew the talent was out there, but what we learned this weekend is that there is some absolutely crazy good performers out there, and these talented singers need to be heard.

Mind you - we are not talking about some community theater caliber talent. This isn’t a case of “everyone gets a gold star for trying.” We are talking professional level talent. These singers could sing in any major organization. Once our final selections have been made, we hope to be able to link up the credentials and performances of our Dueling Divas singers, and you will see for yourself.

Let’s revisit Fresco’s mission. We view it as a two pronged objective. First, we want to present the art form of opera in a fresh way (hence our name), using only the most talented performers through a careful audition process. While we may take opera in different directions in the presentation, we will never compromise on the integrity of the music and performance of it. Fresco will present talent that is on the level of what you would see in any major metropolitan area.

Presenting the top talent the Midwest opera community has to offer brings us to our second objective, which is to build partnerships with the professional singers out there. We want to promote these artists - to give them the exposure they deserve. We view these partnerships as a chance for beneficial outcomes - getting the best talent for Fresco productions while simultaneously giving the artists a chance to do what they have trained all their lives to do. Sing in front of an audience - an audience looking for the chance to hear singing at the highest level it can be performed.

What struck us this weekend was the enthusiasm the singers had for what we are doing. Of course, that made us feel wonderful. To a certain extent, we are going against the grain of what a traditional professional classical music organization does. But we feel the need for what we are doing, and that was validated (for starts) from the feedback we received from our potential performers.

Fresco Opera Theatre and it’s performers have a common goal. We all love the art form that is opera. We are here to Entertain, Educate and Engage you - the audience. We are confident after this weekend, we will succeed in achieving that.